Revelations
by Laragh
Summary: AU, set in contemporary setting. What happens when helping a friend leads to learning things that could change your life forever... Short W/T fluff! No demons/hellmouth!
1. Chapter 1

_TITLE:_ Revelations

_AUTHOR:_ Laragh

_RATING:_ PG-13

_DISCLAIMER:_ Not mine, never were, never will be.

_SUMMARY:_ What happens when helping a friend leads to learning things that could change your life forever...

_SPOILERS:_ Nope, not a one. Possible stealage of dialogue here and there.

_EMAIL:_

_FEEDBACK:_ Yes please

* * *

"What if she kicks me out...or tries to send me to conversion therapy...or, oh god, what if it gives her another brain aneurysm?"

"I'm with B on this one. I'd take on the Hulk himself if I had to, but Mamma Summers? No way, no how."

Buffy reached for Faith's hand to comfort her as she saw the shiver go up her back at the thoughts of having to tell her mother what they wanted to tell her. She'd called her friends, Willow, Tara and Xander over to her house to try and figure out the best way to go about things, but so far the conversation had consisted of herself and Faith voicing ideas back and forth of the worst possible outcomes of the situation. She and Xander had met Willow and Tara, who had lived next door to each other their whole lives, on the first day of Kindergarten, and they had stayed friends all through elementary school, junior high and now into their senior year of high school.

Faith was a new student this year, having left her life of being in and out of foster care homes the day she turned 18. The two had clicked straight away and it didn't take long for their friendship to turn into something more. Telling their friends about their relationship had been easy as pie...but Buffy's mother? That was a whole other ball game.

"Your mother is the coolest," Xander interjected, "Plus she makes the best cocoa."

"It's true," Willow nodded emphatically, "She just wants you to be happy. She won't care that you and Faith are dating."

"You and Faith are what?!"

All five turned to where the squeal had come from, the door of Buffy's bedroom, where they were currently all sitting in and Buffy jumped up, striding angrily towards the door when she saw who was standing there. She grabbed the figure and pulled her inside, shutting the door in the process.

"Keep your voice down!" she hissed, glaring at her little sister.

"But you...and, and..." Dawn quickly looked between Buffy and Faith, realisation gracing her features, "Oh that's so gross!"

"Hey!" Faith spoke up, standing as well and going over to stand over Dawn, "Just because I'm a girl and-"

"I don't think it's gross because you're both girls, stupid," Dawn replied rolling her eyes, "I'm just freaked that the moaning I heard coming from in here the other night when you stayed over wasn't just 'cause one of you sprained your ankle running or something like I thought."

Buffy blushed bright red while Faith just got a smug smile on her face.

"Yea, well," Buffy splurted, "You shouldn't know anything about moaning anyway. You're thirteen."

"I'm fourteen," Dawn scoffed indignantly, folding her arms across her chest, "And I know all about sex. We had a class about it in school."

Faith chuckled quietly and resumed her sitting position with the others, who were all looking on with slightly bated breath, seeing how this scene was going to play out.

"Well that better be the only way you're learning about it. But, um, hey? You're gonna keep quiet about this, right? You won't tell mom?"

"I dunno," Dawn replied, narrowing her eyes, "What's in it for me?"

Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Those new jeans I bought last week," she replied tersely, not for the first time regretting her short and her sister's unnaturally tall limb length, "And you only get to borrow them."

"Fine...but I wanna come out with you guys to the Bronze as well!"

"No way," Buffy said, shaking her head, "Not a chance kiddo."

Dawn stared her sister down for a second before shrugging her shoulders.

"Okay then. MOOOMM-"

She was cut off from her scream as Buffy put a hand over her mouth. The younger girl's natural reaction was to bite the obstructing body part.

"OW!" Buffy yelped, pulling her hand back, "You bit me you little-"

"Okay, okay, guys chill out."

Both sisters turned as Tara's voice rang out through the room and saw her walking towards them. Tara put a hand on Dawn's shoulder comfortingly.

"We'll bring you to the Bronze, okay, Dawnie?"

Buffy was about to protest but a quick glance from Tara made her shut her mouth and go sit next to Faith.

"But you need to promise me you won't say anything about the things you heard in here today, okay? It's important that Buffy tells your mom when _she's_ ready."

Dawn nodded her head in understanding. Tara was her favourite of her sister's friends; she never treated her like she was a child and always explained things to her like an equal.

"Okay. I promise, Tara."

"Thumb shake?" Tara asked, putting her thumb out for their own private secret handshake that had stemmed from multiple games of thumb wars over the years.

"Thumb shake," Dawn confirmed, interlocking her thumb with the Tara's and shaking it up and down.

Tara smiled at Dawn as their digits broke apart and the younger girl squealed before going over to her sister's open wardrobe and grabbing the brand-new, never-been-worn jeans from the hanger they were leaning on and running out of the room. Buffy sighed again as Tara sat back down with the gang.

"I don't know how you're so patient with her, Tara," Buffy said, scowling at the door Dawn had just left through, "She better not spill anything on those jeans."

"Don't worry, baby," Faith leered, putting a hand on her girlfriend's thigh, "I prefer you without them anyway."

"Oh yea?" Buffy asked, cocking an eyebrow and leaning over so their faces were just inches apart, "How much?"

Faith grinned cheekily before latching their lips together and squeezing the flesh under her hand.

"Right," Willow said after a moment, looking anywhere but at the kissing couple in front of her, "Right, so we should go."

"Uh huh," Tara agreed, jumping up and pulling Xander with her, "You too, Xand."

"I think he's drooling..." Willow commented as she helped Tara pull the indeed-drooling boy to the exit, "Um, bye guys. See you later?"

There was no response from either girl, who were now lying on the floor, their hands roaming all over each other's bodies.

"Yea. Cool. Bye," the redhead finished, scurrying out with Tara and Xander, down the stairs, almost colliding into Joyce on the way, "Whoa. Hi, Mrs. Summers."

"Where are you lot going in a hurry?" Joyce asked, as she put on her jacket, "And where are the other two?"

"Oh...uh...um..."

"Chem project," Tara helped out her redheaded friend, "We just remembered it's due tomorrow and we haven't even started yet. Buffy and Faith aren't in our class, so..."

"Very well," Joyce said, picking up her bag, "I'm just heading down to the museum...I better go up and tell them to look after Dawn."

"NO!" Willow yelled, making the older woman jump back slightly in alarm, "Sorry, it's just, uh, I'll tell them for you. I wouldn't want the museum waiting on you, you know..."

"Most of the items there have been around hundreds of years, I think they could last an extra five minutes," Joyce replied, eyeing Willow suspiciously, then sighing slightly, "But thank you. They did say it was an emergency and I could do without Buffy complaining that she doesn't want to look after Dawn again."

"Exactly, Mrs. S," Xander spoke up, recovered from the show he'd gotten upstairs and becoming aware of how bad the situation would be if Joyce walked in what he could only imagine had progressed from when they left. He shook his head to get rid of those images, "Let us deal with angry-Buffy."

"Mmhhmm," Joyce said, opening the front door, "I'll see you all soon."

Willow slumped against the banister of the stairs as Joyce left, exhaling loudly.

"Jeez, that was close. The sooner everything's out in the open, the better."


	2. Chapter 2

"Tara, can you get the door, please?"

"Sure thing, mom," Tara yelled down the hallway as she ran downstairs to answer the door, the bell incessantly ringing. She smiled when she saw who was on the other side, "Should've known it was you, Dawnie. You never were what I'd call patient."

"Sorry," Dawn replied, blushing.

"It's alright. What can I do for you?"

"Um...we have to go to Willow's and then I'll tell you."

"Okay..." Tara replied, slightly confused, "Any particular reason?"

Dawn just gave her a pointed look and Tara put her hands up in defeat.

"Alright, alright, I get it, you'll tell me at Willow's," she said, grabbing her keys from the rack by the door before turning towards the stairs, "Mom, I'm going next door!"

"Alright, honey," she heard from upstairs, "Have fun."

Tara walked out of the house and shut the door behind her before she and Dawn walked down the small pathway of her garden before turning into the garden of the house right next door and down their pathway to the door, where Dawn started ringing the bell in the same repetitive tone she'd done at Tara's house.

Willow and Tara had been friends since they were in diapers, Willow's parents often leaving their infant child with Tara's mom when they went away on business. The trend had kept up throughout their childhood and into their early teens until Willow was deemed old enough to stay by herself and then they just used the free house to have sleepovers without any annoying parental interruptions. Buffy and Xander usually came along to those sleepovers and they'd have dedicated 'movie and pizza' nights, but occasionally Willow just invited Tara along so they could have some private, friend time. They were each other's oldest friends after all and even though they barely remembered a time where Buffy and Xander weren't in their lives, they both felt a special connection.

What was obvious to everyone other than themselves, though, was that 'special connection' was due to the fact that they were obviously made for each other. Buffy had noticed it first, back in Junior High, from the way they looked at each other and how they took any opportunity to touch each other, not to mention the palpable chemistry that was in the air whenever they were around. She waited a couple of months to mention her theory to Xander, who, after getting over the initial shock of the idea, noticed the same things Buffy noticed.

Four years later, however, the girls seemed to still be as obliviously unaware and neither Buffy nor Xander wanted to be the ones to tell them, figuring it was something they needed to work out on their own. The only problem they'd had with this theory was in the past few months that Faith had been on the scene. Never one to censor herself or her observations, there'd been a few close calls when the dark-haired girl had been about to say something along the lines of 'would you two stop making eyes at each other and just bang already' and Buffy had had to quickly stop her with a well-timed kiss.

"You're being sneaky," Tara said, swatting Dawn's hand away from the doorbell, "Something tells me that brain of yours is concocting a scheme."

Dawn just got a secretive smile on her face and shrugged as the door opened to reveal a middle-aged woman with greying hair and an open book in one hand.

"Hello Tara," she said pleasantly before averting her gaze to Dawn, "And the other Summers girl, isn't it? Debra? Denise?"

"Dawn," the youngest girl replied tersely, "It's Dawn. Hello, Mrs. Rosenberg."

"Uh huh," Sheila replied absently, focusing her attention back on the page she was reading, "Willow's in her bedroom, you know where that is, Tara dear?"

Tara prided herself on the fact that she was the only one of Willow's friends who ever got called by the correct name and nodded at the woman as she pulled Dawn into the house and up the stairs.

"You know, I've never seen Willow's room before..." Dawn said as they stopped outside a door at the end of the upstairs hallway of the Rosenberg residence. She laughed at the poster of Albert Einstein that was tacked to it, "So Willow."

"Wait 'til you see the inside," Tara muttered before knocking on the door and poking her head inside to see Willow sitting on her bed, an assortment of books and different coloured pens surrounding her, "Hey Will."

Willow looked up and her face broke out in a wide grin at seeing her friend. She gestured her forwards.

"I was just going over my algebra notes. Come in, come in."

"Dawn's here too," Tara replied, opening the door fully to reveal the two of them and walking in the room, "And she's being devious."

Dawn closed the door behind her and suppressed a giggle as she took in the contents of Willow's bedroom, the walls filled with more posters saying things like 'Warning, I Do My Own Science', with a mini-chemistry set displayed directly underneath it and a desk with two laptops displayed side by side with what Dawn could only figure was at least a hundred wires between them. She finished her inspection of the room and turned to the other two, both now sitting on the bed, wanting to get on with her task.

"I am not being devious," she said in response to Tara's earlier claim, "I simply wanted you guys together so I didn't have to tell you my brilliant idea twice."

"Uh huh?" Willow asked, cocking her eyebrow, "And what brilliant idea would that be?"

Dawn grabbed the chair from behind Willow's desk and positioned it in front of the two girls, sitting down and fidgeting slightly. She knew she'd have to word her idea perfectly, so that neither Willow nor Tara would suspect any ulterior motives on her part, that they'd accept what she was about to propose at face value. She also knew that if she pulled this off, she might finally get the respect she deserved from Buffy.

_She still thinks I'm little miss nobody, just her dumb little sister. Boy, is she in for a surprise._

Her train of thought made her subconsciously get a sly smile on her face, causing the other two girls to look between each other worriedly. Willow waved her hand in front of Dawn's face.

"Hello...anyone in there? Hey, Dawn? You didn't happen to do a bunch of drugs, did ya?"

"Hmm?" Dawn asked, shaking herself out of her reverie, "No! Of course not. I wouldn't know where to get drugs, even if I wanted them."

Willow and Tara exchanged relieved looks and Dawn clapped her hands together.

"Okay, so I was thinking about this whole thing that we talked about last night...you know, with Buffy and Faith?...And the way I figure, the sooner she's able to tell mom, the better. I mean, not that I don't love having something over her, but I really don't wanna have to hear...noises anymore...Plus, you know, when she finds out I helped her with this whole thing, I'm pretty sure I can secure those black leather pants she owns into my possession."

"Not if Faith has anything to do with it," Willow muttered under her breath.

"Um...okay..." Tara started, happy that Dawn wanted to help her sister, even if it seemed to be for all the wrong reasons, "What is it you need us for?"

Dawn leaned closer and cleared her throat, looking between the two.

"I need you two to pretend you're dating. See, if you guys come out to mom, and she's cool with it, then Buffy will know she'll be able to tell her about Faith. Then everything will be out in the open. Everything."

Dawn worried she'd oversold her idea by repeating the word 'everything'. She knew what she wanted to be revealed by her little plan but she knew Willow and Tara didn't yet and it was very important that they didn't find out until they were ready. At least that's what she had heard Buffy say to Faith and Xander on the situation a few weeks ago when she was eavesdropping on their conversation, which is how she'd come into the knowledge about the latent feelings the two in front of her had for each other. Unlike the others, however, she figured she could do something to help them along.

"You want us...to pretend to be a couple?" Willow asked, the idea settling in her mind. She had to admit, it could work out pretty well for Buffy. And there was something else there too, something telling her that this would just be a good idea, "And come out to Joyce?"

"That's pretty much the gist of it," Dawn nodded, hoping that they'd go for the idea.

"I don't know how I feel about lying to Mrs. Summers..." Tara said, biting her lip in contemplation.

Dawn resisted the urge to roll her eyes and tell them it shouldn't have to be a lie.

_I mean, jeez, I only found out about this whole thing a couple of weeks ago and even I can see they're perfect for each other. I don't know how Buffy and especially Xander have kept quiet for long. I just wanna knock their heads together. Huh, and I'm supposed to be the kid. Puh-lease._

"Well, see, it's no different than you not telling mom about Buffy and Faith now. A lie of omission is still a lie," she said in her best stern voice, "Plus it'll only be for a little while. So whaddya say?"

Willow glanced at Tara who shrugged her shoulders and gave the redhead a consenting look. They were helping out their friends after all, how could they say no? She turned back to Dawn and nodded.

"We're in."


	3. Chapter 3

"And you're telling me that Dawn thought this up?" Buffy asked incredulously, "We're talking about the same girl here? Brown hair? Stupidly tall? Always wearing my clothes?"

Willow had called the gang for a meeting at the Espresso Pump after Dawn had left her house, proclaiming she had to meet friends at the mall and they had just finished informing the others of the proposal she had suggested.

"I'm pretty sure we know who your sister is after all these years, Buff," Willow replied, rolling her eyes, "And yea, she thought it up and came to ask us and we think it's a good idea. You know, if you do."

"I like it," Faith said, rubbing one of Buffy's shoulders, "Little D's plan is pretty damn good."

"Yea...it is," Buffy said, mulling over everything, "What bothers me is why she's oh-so-willing to help me out all of a sudden when she as good as blackmailed me yesterday."

"Because she's your sister and she loves you," Tara said, hoping that would placate the girl. It, of course, didn't and Tara sighed in resignation, "And she may also want your leather pants."

"Those skimpy ones that hug your ass all tight?" Faith asked, shaking her head, "Nuh uh, no way is baby sis getting her hands on those."

"Knew there was something," Buffy muttered, "I don't know why she can't just buy her own damn clothes!"

"Um, I have a suggestion?" Xander spoke up and the four girls, kind of having forgotten he was there, turned to look at him, "Dawn already put the idea out there...so can you guys not just do it and then...not give her the pants?"

Faith chuckled and hit the boy on the back affectionately.

"You got some smarts in there, after all, Xan-man. If D was stupid enough to give what she had to offer without asking for something first then I say we take it. Let red and blondie here pretend to be doing the deed for Mrs. S and then she'll have no choice but to accept the fact that I'm getting in her daughter's pants."

"I, um, I wouldn't word it like that," Tara said, blushing, "At least not in front of Mrs. Summers."

"And you two are cool with this?" Buffy asked, glancing between the two.

"Living their dream," Faith muttered, earning an elbow to the gut from her girlfriend, "I mean, yea, you guys'd be doing us a solid, you know?"

"Anything to help our friends," Willow said cheerily and Tara smiled her agreement, "Hey, Tare, we need to figure out a back story! So like if Joyce asks us questions we won't blow our cover. Come on, I made up a really cool new program on my laptop that we can write everything out in and it'll search for any contradictions. I use it to help with English essays and stuff. Oh! How about I asked you to the Winter Dance and..."

Buffy, Faith and Xander watched as Willow dragged Tara out of the cafe and down towards her house, still babbling on about their back story.

"Huh, surprise, surprise," Faith chuckled, "Red is getting excited over the whole idea of her and T dating."

"What if this isn't such a good idea?" Xander asked, "Willow and Tara pretending to be together? What if it brings up a lot of...bad things? What if we're wrong about them liking each other? What if they're really just best friends and we're reading too much into it?"

"They've been hot for each other for years," Buffy said, rolling her eyes, "Why do you think neither of them has ever dated anyone else? Not to mention the looks and the touches. They're both just too damn naive to notice. Any anyway, even if by some freak of nature, I'm wrong – and trust me, I'm not. Math and science might not be my cup of tea, but feelings, I know. But if, if I'm wrong, then what does it matter? They're just doing as a favour and everything will go back to normal anyway."

"Alright," Xander replied, "But I want it noted if this all blows up that I was against the idea."

"Duly noted."

"Wow," Faith said after a moment, letting out a low, lengthy whistle, "Little D really did not know how much baggage she was bringing up by suggesting this."

* * *

"And after the data is entered, then I just press enter and...see, now we can't say I got you a 'world's best girlfriend' card for your birthday if our first date wasn't until the Winter Dance, 'cause then we would've been together two months before an actual date came about and that's not really realistic, unless we say that the dance was just our first _public_ date, then it could-"

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" Tara cut off her friend, smiling.

The redhead hadn't shut up the entire walk back to her house or for the hour and a half they'd been sitting in front of her laptop, Willow's fingers typing the keys furiously as she planned out the story of how they got together. It was funny, when they'd first agreed to the idea, she'd been willing purely to help out her friends but as things progressed, she could feel something...but she wasn't quite sure what that something was. It was like her brain was trying to push something to the forefront of her mind, but it just wasn't succeeding.

"Hell yea," Willow grinned, snapping the brunette from her reverie, "This is better than writing fanfiction."

Tara snorted and looked over the many lines of text on the screen of Willow's laptop, all highlighted in different colours to distinguish one line from another.

"Will, I really don't think Joyce is gonna grill us on all this stuff. And I know you've got the memory of a 320gb hard-drive..."

Willow giggled at her generally technologically-challenged friend's version of a computer joke.

"But if I try to remember all these dates and situations...you know, that didn't really happen..."

Willow felt an odd sense of dejection at Tara's mention of how things hadn't really happened. She shrugged that thought away, figuring it was probably just because she got over-eager about the whole thing to begin with.

"I'll probably slip-up and say something stupid. So how about we just keep it simple? This whole thing is complicated enough."

"Yea, you're right," Willow sighed, "Sorry. I just got excited."

"It's a very cool program," Tara smiled warmly, "You're a genius to be able to make these kind of things up, you know that?"

Willow smiled bashfully.

"It's not that hard, really. And I could never paint the way you do. That's real genius. Anybody could learn this stuff given enough time, but what you have, that's just natural. The most artistic thing I ever did was mix the wrong two chemicals together to get that stain over there on the carpet."

Tara glanced over at the stain, which she had noticed before but never thought to ask about and smiled.

"It's beautiful. You could get thousands for it if you put it up for auction."

"Oh ha, ha," Willow laughed, rolling her eyes, "I'm gonna give Buffy a call. I kinda just ran out of the Pump."

"Yea and dragged me with you," Tara chuckled, "Can I check my email?"

"'Course. You know how to log onto the internet, don't you?"

Tara playfully hit her friend on the arm and scooted over so she was sitting directly in front of the laptop.

"I'm not that bad."

Willow held her arm and pretended to her hurt before pushing off her chair with a grin and retrieving her cell from the nightstand beside her bed. Tara heard numbers being dialled and the redhead begin to speak as she logged into her email. She deleted the spam and marked a few forwarded jokes to read later before closing down the browser, accidentally minimising the other open programs in the process. She smiled when she saw the redhead's screen saver, a photo of the two of them when they were kids, the summer before they started Kindergarten, playing in a sandbox and smiling at the camera, both their lips bright red from the popsicles they'd just consumed. Tara had the same photo in a frame by her bed.

"Those were the days, huh?"

Tara felt a hand rest on her shoulder and nodded.

"They were indeed. You get through to Buffy?"

"Yep. She's at home. She and Dawn had a big blow-out over this whole pants thing," Willow sighed, "Like, really, so much drama over a pair of pants? I'll buy her the damn pants."

"I think it's more to do with the fact that they're Buffy's...she'd never admit it, but Dawn looks up to Buffy so much, she does whatever she can to be just like her."

"I guess...you know, I've never really thought about it like that. But now that you say it...Look, anyway, Buffy's worried Dawn's gonna squeal about her and Faith so she was wondering if we could, you know...start proceedings sooner rather than later."

"Oh, cool," Tara nodded, "So like..."

"Now?"

"Oh. Uh, cool," Tara repeated, "Right. I still feel weird about lying."

"Hey," Willow replied, taking the seat next to the brunette, "If it's really bothering you that much, we don't have to do it. Buffy'll figure it out."

"I said I'd do it," Tara said, trying to convince herself more than anything, "And it's only for a bit, right? I mean it's not like we'll be lying forever?"

"God, no. I promise, soon as this is over, there'll be no more lying. To anyone."

What neither girl knew yet was that Willow was completely right. There would be no more lying. Least of all, to themselves.


	4. Chapter 4

"Okay, so just follow my lead, okay? You were right what you said earlier, the simpler we make it the better. Plus, you always get a little tongue-tied around parents anyway so it won't be suspicious if you're quiet," Willow said as she and Tara walked the few blocks from her house to the Summers residence, noticing the brunette dropped her head down in embarrassment at her words, "Hey, it's not a bad thing. So you're a little shy, I think it's cute."

Tara raised an eyebrow at the redhead but seemed pleased at the admission and straightened up as they stopped outside Buffy's house.

"Here we are," she whispered quietly.

"Come on," Willow replied, walking towards the front door, "Sooner it's over with the sooner you can stop stressing."

Tara let out a low laugh and smiled at Joyce as she opened the door. Joyce, used to her daughter's friends coming and going from her house at all hours stepped aside and nodded towards the stairs.

"Buffy's up there. But I heard two sets of lungs screaming at each other about ten minutes ago so you might walk in on a fight, just so you're warned."

"Nothing we're not used to. We just came over to borrow a book," Willow lied, before rubbing her thumb along a petal of a rose that was part of a bunch displayed in a vase by the door, "These are pretty."

"Oh thank you," Joyce said, smiling wistfully at the flowers, "Of course, they were supposed to lessen the blow of the 'I don't think we should see each other anymore' card that accompanied it. Dating is a hard game at my age."

"Um, speaking of dating..." Willow replied, seeing an opening, "Could we talk to you in the kitchen for a second?"

Joyce nodded and walked down the hallway to the kitchen, gesturing for the girls to sit on the stools in front of the island.

"Well, of course. You two aren't in trouble are you?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Willow was quick to reassure.

"Good. Well then, speak away. You know I'm always here to listen."

"We know. Which is why we thought we would come to you first..." Willow paused momentarily and looked to Tara to make she was still okay with it. When she got a confidant smile in response she took the plunge and linked her fingers with the brunette's, resting their conjoined hands on top of the island, "So, you've known me and Tara forever practically. You know, like we pretty much consider you our Aunt Joyce."

"Definitely," Tara added, feeling slightly dazed since Willow had grabbed her hand, but unsure why, "You're, ah...like a, um..."

"Part of our 'choose your own' family thing we got going on," Willow finished, looking at her friend strangely, "So we just wanted to throw it out there, you know, just to tell you...me and Tara are together. You know, together-together. More than friends. Girlfriends. Lovers. Lesbian, gay-type lovers who-"

"Yes, Willow, I understand," Joyce cut the redhead off before she went into any more detail and smiled at the two girls in front of her, "You're happy?"

Willow nodded and Tara forced a smile, her head still spinning as that thing her head was trying to tell her earlier started to push itself front and centre of her mind. They were interrupted as a loud beeping came from the redhead's pocket. She pulled out her cell and jumped up excitedly when she read the message.

"There's a package at my house, it must be my new LED display! I've been waiting weeks for this; you can program it to say whatever you want in cool, neon-y flashing lights! I gotta go, but, um, thanks, Joyce for being so cool!"

"No problem, Willow, enjoy your new toy."

"Oh I will."

Willow gushed out her words and went to leave before seeing Joyce looking at her expectantly. Realising what the older woman was expecting, and overwhelmed from her excitement over her new gadget arriving to think of any kind of censorship, she leaned over and kissed Tara squarely on the mouth.

All at once, the brunette's mind finally gave way and the thoughts that had been sitting on the sidelines made themselves very clear. She liked this. She wanted this. She wanted Willow.

Willow, uncharacteristically unaware of what had been going on in her own mind, felt an electric jolt go through her body as soon as their lips touched and almost jumped back at the shock. A stronger feeling, she wasn't sure quite what it was yet, made her stay kissing her friend for another second or so before pulling back.

"I, um...I gotta go," she said, turning around and rushing out, almost colliding into Buffy on her way.

"Hey, I thought I heard your voic...okay, bye, Willow!" Buffy yelled as the redhead scarpered as quickly as she could, "Jeez, is she training for track or something?"

"One of her computer contraptions came in," Joyce responded, smiling at her daughter as she sat down on Willow's recently-vacated seat, "She and Tara were just telling me about their good news."

Buffy's looked towards Tara, who managed a weak smile, her head still reeling.

"Oh yea," Buffy said, clearing her throat, "And, uh, what...what have you got to say about that, mom?"

"I'm happy for them. And I'm happy for you, too."

Buffy's head shot up and she looked at her mother, dumbfounded.

"Oh what?" Joyce laughed, "You think I didn't know? I'm not completely blind, Buffy. And it would be nice if perhaps Faith could come over for dinner someday. One that doesn't involve pizza boxes and soda cans."

"I'll just, um, get that book Willow wanted."

Tara got up and left the kitchen before the other two had much of a chance to respond. She ran up a few of the stairs for appearances sake, knowing Willow didn't really want to borrow a book, before going back down once she felt enough time had passed. She went to the front door and opened it, going to leave. Just before she shut it behind her she saw Joyce and Buffy, still in the kitchen and oblivious to the fact that she was watching, embrace warmly, Buffy laughing and looking the most relieved Tara had ever seen her. She smiled at their interaction, thankful Buffy had gotten what she'd needed out of their little charade. The only problem was, she'd gotten a hell of a lot more out of it than she'd ever expected.

* * *

"Hey baby girl. You've been coming and going all day today, busy?"

"Yea," Tara nodded at her mother, dropping her keys on the rack, barely remembering having walked back from Buffy's, her mind in a complete daze, "Busy."

"Hey, what's wrong, sweetheart?"

Julia Maclay saw the lost, almost desperate look in her daughter's eyes, a look she'd never seen in her before and put a hand on her arm comfortingly. Tara bit her lip and looked like she was about to burst into tears, so Julia wrapped her arm fully around the younger girl's shoulder and guided her into the living room, sitting them both down on the sofa.

"Have you ever felt like your entire world's been turned on its head?" Tara spoke up after a few minutes, "Like you thought you knew yourself and your life, but you just don't?"

"Hey now, what's brought this all on?"

Tara brought her thumb up to her mouth and started biting on the skin around it, before sighing.

"So you know Buffy was struggling to tell Mrs. Summers about Faith, right?"

Julia nodded, she and Tara had always been close and her daughter had always come to her with problems, so she was almost always well-versed in the goings on of both her and her friends.

"So anyway, Dawn found out and there was all this drama, but long story short, me and Willow agreed to pretend to be dating to kind of..."

"Scope out Joyce to see how she felt about the whole issue?" Julia guessed.

"Exactly. And she's perfectly fine with it, as it turns out so Buffy really worried for nothing."

Julia pulled Tara more into her embrace and placed a kiss on her temple.

"Something tells me there's a major part of that story missing."

"As soon as..." Tara stopped and sighed, trying to collect all her thoughts and voice them in the right way, "When Dawn suggested we pretend to be dating, I felt funny about it, and I thought it was because we'd be lying to Mrs. Summers. But there was something nagging at me, saying that wasn't it, there was something, I dunno, _more_ to the whole thing. But it all really happened so fast that I didn't really get time to register what I was feeling or what was happening. Until she kissed me. You know, just a quick peck 'cause Mrs. Summers was watching and we were supposed to be dating and all. But it was like...a revelation or something. I mean, I don't know how I could've not seen it before, but..."

Julia stayed quiet, sensing what was coming but knowing Tara needed to say it out loud.

"I have non-friendship type feelings for Willow. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm in love with her."


	5. Chapter 5

Willow paced back and forth in her room, her new LED display tossed carelessly on the bed, the package unopened.

_What...I mean, what?! This isn't real, I can't be feeling...I don't even know what...that...is supposed to feel like, but...she's Tara, oldest, best friend Tara..._

She sat on her bed and held her head in her hands as her brain started screaming at her.

_But she's different, isn't she? She always was, always different to how you felt about Buffy and Xander. But that's just 'cause I've known her longer...and oh god, I'm arguing with my own mind._

She flopped down unceremoniously on top of the blanket, her mind coming back to the one thought she'd been thinking since she left the Summers residence.

_It felt so wonderful to kiss her._

She brought a finger up to her lips and sighed wistfully as the memory overtook her and she felt them tingle all over again. She was snapped from her reverie when her door opened and she sat up straight, getting a disappointed look on her face when it wasn't the one person she hoped it would be. Luckily or unluckily, depending on how you looked at it, Sheila was too lost in her own world, gazing down at her organiser to notice the disappointment she was greeted with.

"Willow, dear, your father and I have been called to a conference in St. Louis. We're leaving tonight, back next Thursday. I wired money into your account for food and things. Have a good week at school."

"Um, yea, okay," Willow nodded, "Uh, mom?"

Sheila finally looked up from her organiser and looked at her daughter expectantly.

"Yes, Willow?"

_What's the point? Not like we've ever really talked about anything before._

Willow just shook her head and forced a weak smile.

"Nothing. Enjoy your trip."

Sheila mumbled a goodbye and left again, leaving Willow feeling just as confused as ever. Normally when a situation came up that left her perplexed or unsure of how to proceed, she'd call Tara. Tara was always the one she relied on to help her talk things out, but she was the one person she couldn't call about this. She briefly considered calling Buffy but remembered she and Faith had a date tonight, and even if Buffy wouldn't have minded interrupting it for something of this magnitude, she definitely didn't want to get on the wrong side of Faith. She scrolled down the number list in her phone, stopping momentarily at Xander's name before shaking her head.

_This would probably make his head explode._

She resigned herself to the fact that she'd have to work through this on her own and closed her eyes for a second, intending on trying to focus her mind so she could be rational about the whole thing. Instead, only one thing filled her brain.

_Tara..._

* * *

Tara dipped her paintbrush in the red oil paint, one of the many colours she had set out in front of her and twirled in around her page. She wasn't attempting to create anything in particular, but she always found painting relaxing and she figured relaxation would be the best thing for her right now.

_Who would've thought figuring out you're in love with your best friend would be so stressful?_

She had come to accept her love for the redhead relatively quickly, after all, it had been there for long that it wasn't like anything had changed in terms of her feelings. After her talk with her mother, who seemed completely unfazed by the revelation – in fact, she kind of seemed like she was expecting it – she had come up to her room and her gaze had instantly fell upon her painting desk, and she had been naturally drawn there as she got lost in the painting. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she looked down, really seeing what she'd painted for the first time and saw it was just swirls of red and green.

_Willow..._

A shrill ring snapped her to attention and she fumbled in her pocket for a moment, answering her cell without checking who it was first.

"Hello?"

"Tara! Hi!"

Tara inhaled sharply at the sound of Willow's voice on the other end, not expecting to have been speaking to the new-found object of her affections so soon.

"Willow. Um, how are you? Is your new display thing working?"

"What? Oh, um, the LED display...Uh, yea, it's really cool. All wordy and shiny and whatnot."

"Great."

"Yea..." Tara heard a slight hesitation in the redhead's voice before she continued speaking again, "So, um my parents just bailed to another conference and uh, I was thinking, we haven't had one of our 'you-and-me' sleepovers in a while. You up for it?"

"Um..." Tara thought for a moment before realising that a night of doing their normal friend stuff might help her figure her head out a little. More importantly, though she wouldn't admit it to herself, it might help her figure out Willow's head, "Yea, I'd like that. I'd really like that."

"Cool. I'll order the pizza and download the movies. Any requests?"

"You choose. I'll watch anything. I'll come over like eight?"

"It's a date..."

Tara heard a splutter on the other end as the redhead realised what she said and chuckled down the phone.

"I'll see you then, Willow."

She hung up quickly and glanced at the clock in her room, seeing it was a lot closer to eight than she thought it was. She grabbed an overnight bag and started gathering her things for the night, before going into the bathroom to get her toothbrush. As she grabbed it, she noticed her make-up lying on the little counter above the sink. Normally she just wore a light amount of make-up for the day unless they were going to the Bronze or something but she decided to put a bit of effort in tonight and dashed some blue eye shadow on before running some eyeliner along her eyes and tying her hair up in a ponytail. She pulled on the end of her shirt to straighten it and went back into her room to get her bag just as her clock chimed eight.

"Right on time," she whispered to herself as she slung her bag over her shoulder and ran downstairs, popping her head into the kitchen.

"I'm spending the night at Willow's, okay?"

Julia spun around from where she was chopping up vegetables, her eyes wide going wide when she saw her daughter so made-up.

"Uh..."

Tara saw the uneasiness in her mother and walked fully into the kitchen.

"Mom, I'm not a hundred percent what the hell is going on. With either of us. I mean, this time yesterday everything was normal and now it's...I don't even know. But Willow's always been there. That's not gonna change even if she doesn't feel the same."

"I'm more concerned about if she does feel the same."

Of course, for Julia, it wasn't an 'if', because she knew damn well the redhead felt the same. The somewhat relief she had felt earlier that it all seemed to be finally coming to a head was overshadowed now at the prospect of her little girl growing up.

"Need you to trust me, mom," Tara said simply and met her mother's gaze.

Julia saw the look in Tara's eyes and nodded. She wiped her hands on her apron and went over to give her a quick hug.

"I do, darling. Have a good evening."

"Thanks."

Tara smiled and waved before leaving through the front door and hopped over the small wall that separated her house from Willow's, not bothered to use the pathway and rang the redhead's doorbell. She heard the loud footsteps of someone coming down the stairs before the door swung open.

"Tara, hi...yiyi."

Willow gulped as she took in the brunette's appearance. She'd seen her all dolled up on a multitude of occasions, but right now it was causing a reaction that she'd never had before, warmth spreading throughout her body from her stomach and giving her an all-over tingling sensation. She'd invited the taller girl around because she didn't like the feeling of not being able to talk to her about something, anything and well...she kind of just really wanted to see Tara.

"You gonna let me in?" Tara asked, slightly uncomfortable, when the redhead just stayed staring at her, "Will?"

"Hmm? Oh yea, sorry," Willow replied, stepping aside and closing the door behind them, "Pizza arrived a minute ago and I got Finding Nemo. You, uh, you said I could choose."

"I love that movie. Good choice."

Willow watched as Tara started up the stairs, the sway of her hips igniting the same warm feeling in the smaller girl all over again.

_Oh boy. This is gonna be a lot harder than I thought._


	6. Chapter 6

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. All you gotta do is swim, swim, swim!"

Tara threw her head back in laughter as Willow imitated the little blue fish in the movie they had just watched, an empty pizza box lying beside them.

"Do Crush, do Crush."

Willow cleared her throat and adopted a neutral expression on her face.

"'Cause we were like, 'woaaahh', and I was like, 'woaaahh' and you were like... 'woaaahh'...!"

Tara burst into a fresh set of giggles as Willow emulated the animated sea turtle uncannily, her elaborate hand gestures just adding to the silliness. Her laughter was interrupted by an errant yawn escaping her lips and she brought a hand up to cover it but the redhead noticed and glanced at her watch.

"Wow, it's late. Time flies when you're having fun, huh? Wanna get ready for bed?"

"Sure."

Tara yawned again, exhausted by the somewhat-late hour and the emotional rollercoaster the day had been. She automatically went over to her bag and pulled out her pyjama's, changing into them.

Willow turned off the television in her room and picked up the pizza box, putting in her desk, figuring she could throw it out in the morning, all the while thinking how well the evening had gone. Yea, she'd had to catch herself when she'd been staring at Tara's lips a couple of times but for the most part the evening had gone as it normally would, which she was glad about. The thought of losing Tara as a friend was one of the worst things imaginable for the redhead so she figured if she was just able to reign in her desires, everything would fully return to normal. She paled as she turned around just in time to see the brunette pulling stripy pyjama bottoms – in what seemed like an agonisingly slow pace - up each of her toned legs and settling along her waist. They'd gotten changed in front of each other hundreds of times before but Willow had never noticed Tara's ass-

_Oh what a fine ass it is...oh god, bad Willow, no, no thoughts of the naughty variety._

-ets. The taller girl remained seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was being stared at as she picked up her toothbrush and left for the main bathroom across the hall. Willow gulped a couple of times to get the moisture back in her mouth before a sudden thought hit her.

_Everything can't return to normal._

She sighed and distractedly got into her own pyjama's, then walked into the en-suite bathroom that accompanied her bedroom, going through her own night-time routine at a fairly sedate pace, her mind racing with thoughts of how to handle the situation she was being faced with. When she figured she couldn't scrub her face anymore with skin starting to peel, she wiped her hands on her pyjama bottoms and went back into her room, a whole new host of fears engulfing her when she saw the brunette already lying on the bed, doing something on her cell.

_How the hell am I supposed to lie beside her all night long? What if I grope her in her sleep or something? Okay, brain, make note, we're not sleeping tonight, okay?_

Tara closed her cell and dropped it on the nightstand beside the bed when she saw the redhead re-enter the room and smiled at her. Willow smiled back and gingerly slipped in beside her. Neither said anything for a few minutes and the smaller girl was about to make some semblance of a joke to break the tension when Tara spoke up first, saying something that made Willow's heart skip a beat.

"My hand is cold."

This is where the logical part of Willow's brain went into overdrive. They lived in California. It may have been night, but it was still easily 65° outside. And they had a blanket over them. So barring some kind of circulatory or thyroid problem, which she was pretty sure her friend didn't have, there was no reason for her hands to be cold.

_And she said hand. Just one. Could she...? Is she asking...?_

Willow balled her own hand into a fist for a moment to stop it shaking before guiding it under the sheet to find Tara's and clasping them together.

"That better?" she asked cautiously, staring straight at the ceiling to avoid the brunette's gaze for now.

"Yea. That's definitely better."

Willow felt her heart speed up and was unsure how to proceed so decided to test the waters a little.

"So that was funny earlier, huh? Pretending to Buffy's mom and all?"

"Yea," Tara agreed, her tone giving nothing away, "It was."

Seeing she was going to get nothing, the redhead decided to take the plunge. She turned her head so she was looking at Tara.

"What if it wasn't funny?"

Tara turned her head to meet Willow's gaze, hoping this conversation was going where she thought it was.

"What if...?"

She purposely left the question open-ended, needing the smaller girl to finish it. Willow drew in a quiet, deep breath and brought their still conjoined-hands up between them.

"What if this was real? What if, what if _we_ were real? There's always been something special between us, Tara, I think we both know that, but I always thought it was just the diaper connection..."

Tara raised an eyebrow at this and Willow gestured with her other hand.

"You know, because we've known each other since we've been in diapers. And I never had any reason to think otherwise, I've never even really thought about dating and stuff, I just felt like I had enough in my life. And I did, because I had Buffy and Xander and most importantly, I had you and we were the 'four amigos', you know? But what I feel for you...what I know for sure ever since I kissed you, is not something I feel for Buffy and Xand, it's a whole different level. And it's not just because I've known you longer, because really, we've practically known them our entire lives too, it's just because it's _you_, Tara, it's you that I want to..."

"What?" Tara asked softly, subconsciously squeezing the hand in hers.

Willow looked into the glimmering blue orbs that were searching her own and knew she had to be completely honest.

"Give my heart and soul to."

Tara felt her heart burst with a whole mixture of emotions and almost felt like crying at the relief coursing through her but knew Willow wouldn't take that as a good reaction so instead turned her body on its side and put her spare hand on the redhead's cheek. Keeping their other hands interlocked was slightly uncomfortable in this position, but neither were about to let go. Tara rubbed her thumb along the smaller girl's cheekbone before moving down to her lips and copying the same motion. She felt Willow's warm breath on her skin and looked up to her eyes for permission to do the one thing that would permanently change their friendship forever. She got a small nod, one she would've barely felt had her hand not been on her face and brought her own face down so their noses were touching.

Willow felt the brunette's nose nuzzle against her own affectionately for a moment, her breath coming in shallow gasps as she anticipated what was about to happen. When it did, when soft, warm lips covered her own and began moving gently, she responded in kind. The kiss was so much different to the first peck that had started the whole flurry of emotion and confusion that this day had been. This kiss sealed their new relationship, undefined as yet, but clear in the girl's minds. Tara eventually pulled back after several long minutes and rested her forehead against Willow's.

"You kind of spoke enough for both of us earlier," she whispered quietly and placed another soft kiss on the redhead's lips when an errant blush spread on the smaller girl's cheeks, "But just so you know, I'm totally and completely in love with you, Willow Rosenberg."

Willow's breath caught in her throat as she heard the words out loud but managed to breathe out a response.

"I love you, too."

Tara smiled and scrunched up her nose playfully before giving the other girl another quick kiss and flopping back down on the bed, bursting into giggles. Willow was about to ask what was so funny when she took one look at the brunette and laughter began to escape her own mouth. After about a minute they both started to calm down but glanced at each other and the cycle recommenced all over again.

"This is officially," Tara gasped out between laughs, "The weirdest day ever."

"I didn't think it possible to feel so many things in one day," Willow agreed, giving a final chuckle and wiping her brow, "I mean, I've been excited, and terrified and confused and guilty and, and..."

"Loved."

Willow smirked and placed her hand over the other girl's heart.

"I think that's the best one. God, my mom's gonna freak when she finds out her only daughter is a lesbian."

Tara grinned and leisurely began running her fingers through Willow's hair.

"Your mom? I'm more worried about how Xander's gonna react, friends with a bunch of girls who are all over each other..."

"You kidding me?" Willow scoffed, "His popularity will shoot through the roof. He's been talking about some guy, Tito in his wood shop class he's been hanging out with. Something about too many girls interfering with his manliness or something. But, uh...you think it would be okay if we didn't tell anyone for a while? I kinda need some time to get used to us...to you being mine...does that make any sense at all?"

"Of course," Tara replied, moving her fingers down to trace circles on the back of Willow's neck, "And I am, you know."

"You're...?"

Tara moved her hand back to cup the redhead's cheek.

"Yours."

They met in a sweet kiss for a moment before the taller girl pulled back.

"But just to confirm...in private...I can hold your hand?"

Willow squeezed the brunette's hand, which had managed to stay interlocked even throughout their whole giggling fit and nodded shyly.

"I can...tell you I love you?"

Willow nodded again, her face breaking out in a beaming smile.

"I can kiss you like there's no tomorrow?"

The redhead's eyes lit up and Tara leaned down so their faces were barely a millimetre apart, their breaths co-mingling.

"Good," she replied, speaking in a low, soft tone, "And in private..."

The brunette hesitated a minute, savouring the look of anticipation on the other girl's face.

"You can check out my ass and I'll pretend I don't notice."

The colour drained from Willow's face and Tara couldn't help but laugh, pulling back slightly so she was looking at the smaller girl properly.

"Seriously, Rosenberg, subtly is not your forte..."

"I..I...I'm sorry," Willow managed after a moment, her paleness turning into a bright blush, "I didn't mean to watch you get changed, I just turned around and was staring at-"

"You were watching me getting changed?" Tara asked, raising an eyebrow, "I was talking about when I was going up the stairs...and then again when I was leaning over to grab a coke..."

Willow's eyes went wide and her mouth went dry as her brain started to go into overload, trying to come up with something, any kind of excuse but she was coming up blank.

"Uh...well...you see, it wasn't...um...I didn't..."

"Oh, Willow, you're way too easy," Tara chuckled, rolling her eyes, "I noticed then, too. Why did you think I dragged my pyjama bottoms up...extra...slowly..."

The brunette emphasised her last two words by dragging a single finger down the other girl's face and past her neck, stopping just short of the collar on her pyjamas. Willow gulped before a cheeky grin graced her features.

"I thought that was just my mind playing pervy tricks on me! Oh you are so going to pay for that, Tara!"

Tara quickly found herself on her back with two hands unceremoniously tickling her sides, the thin tank-top providing little protection from the attacking fingers. She let out a squeal and tried to get out from under the redhead's hold but was unsuccessful in her attempts. In previous tickle fights, she'd normally try and distract the smaller girl by saying her laptop was making strange noises or something before overpowering her, but she figured now she had a better way to get the tickling to cease and leaned her head upwards, capturing Willow's lips and jutting her tongue out, teasingly running it over the other girl's bottom lip.

Willow's hand stilled as soon as she felt Tara's tongue on her lips, moving up to cup her cheeks as her mouth opened, accepting the exploring tongue fully inside. She tried but failed to contain a moan as they started duelling passionately. They stayed locked together for as long as they could before lungs began burning, calling out for oxygen and they broke apart, resting their foreheads against each other.

"You're gonna use your lips to get me to do whatever you want from now on, aren't you?"

Tara smirked and nodded.

"Most definitely."

Willow grinned and kissed the side of the brunette's mouth.

"I'm pretty okay with that."


	7. Chapter 7

Tara sat on her bed and fumbled around with her alarm clock, groaning inwardly as she set in for the early hour. She placed it back on her nightstand and was about to get into bed when she heard a weird thud coming from the other side of the room. She looked over and upon seeing nothing unusual, shrugged her shoulders and continued with pulling back the sheets. She had just put her head on the pillow and was about to turn off her lamp when she heard it again, then again within a second.

She jumped up and walked over to her window, where she identified the sound had come from and opened it, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw Willow balancing herself on a large branch of the oak tree that sat between their two houses, her hand filled with a bunch of pebbles, which she dropped the remainder of to the ground when the window opened.

"Willow? What are you doing?"

"I wanted to say goodnight."

"Um, you could've used the phone," Tara replied, gaping at the other girl, "Would you come off of that, it looks dangerous."

Willow shimmied down the branch slightly as she climbed in the brunette's window, brushing off the errant pieces of bark from her jeans.

"Nonsense," she scoffed, in response to the other girl's previous statement, "We used to do this all the time when we were kids, remember?"

Tara cast her mind back and remembered how they'd use the tree as a go-between, both of their bedroom windows looking out onto it, to get to each other's houses when their parents had said they couldn't hang out because of homework or something.

"We haven't used the tree since we were like ten," she replied, smiling at the memory, "Not since you got stuck up there and we had to get Buffy to get you down before anyone noticed."

"That girl was always unnaturally strong. Anyway," Willow smirked, pulling Tara towards her, "Hi."

"You wanted to say goodnight, huh? Something tells me that's not all you were after..."

Willow held onto the brunette's hips and tapped her fingers lightly against the fabric of the boxers she was wearing as pyjamas.

"Is it so wrong to want a goodnight kiss from my girlfriend?"

"Really?" Tara asked, her face lighting up, "I'm your girlfriend?"

"Well I don't tell just anyone that I'm in love with them then spend the whole night with my lips attached to theirs..." Willow replied, drifting off dreamily for a second as she remembered the night previous, neither of them willing to stop kissing until it was already starting to get light out. She shook herself from her reverie, becoming suddenly nervous, "Unless, um, you don't want that. That's totally-"

"Of course that's what I want," Tara interrupted, "We just never said it last night, so I wasn't sure...I thought maybe you wanted to wait until you were ready to tell everyone else to, I dunno, call me that."

"Nuh uh. I like how it sounds. My girlfriend. Tara Maclay is my girlfriend. My girlfriend who loves me. My girlfriend who really wants to kiss me right now..."

"Your girlfriend sounds very accommodating," Tara grinned and moved forwards so their bodies were pushed together as she gently kissed the other girl.

Willow smiled into the kiss as the brunette threw her arms around her neck and deepened it. They stayed kissing for several minutes, enjoying the closeness of being with each other until the sound of a doorknob being opened made them spring apart.

Julia stood in the doorway for a second, completely forgetting about the basket of clothes in her hand that she had intended to drop off in her daughter's room before clearing her throat as she took in the flustered appearance of the two girls.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. I'll just, ah..." Julia trailed off before her eyes narrowed as she realised something, "I didn't hear you come in, Willow."

"Um, yea," Willow replied, gulping audibly, "See, I didn't know if you were in bed so I messaged Tara to let me in so I could borrow her English notes and-"

"Willow," Julia interrupted, suppressing a grin at how she'd managed to make the redhead even more flustered, "You know you're always welcome here, regardless of what you and Tara...well, anyway, you're always welcome, just let me know, okay? If for no other reason than if there's an emergency I know exactly who's in the house."

"Right," Tara spoke up, embarrassed, "Won't happen again."

"Uh huh. I'll just leave these here," Julia responded, setting the basket of clothes down on her daughter's floor, "Are you staying the night, Willow?"

"Oh, um, no Ms. Maclay," Willow said, a hint of regret in her voice. She really wanted to spend the night, but they'd both agreed after not sleeping the night before that they should spend the night apart if they had any intention of paying attention in school the next day, "And, um, sorry about..."

"It's no problem. I'll see you soon, Willow. Night guys."

Julia left the room, closing the door as she went and Willow slumped down against the wall, exhaling loudly.

"She, uh...she didn't seem that surprised that she walked in on her daughter kissing her best friend."

Tara kneeled down so she was eye-level with her girlfriend and shook her head.

"I know we said we weren't telling anyone, but you know how close we are and I'd already told her I had feelings for you and well...I was so excited when I came home, I had to tell someone. She won't breathe a word to anyone, I promise, and you know, I figured it meant we could be all couple-y somewhere other than your bedroom. Do you hate me?"

"What? Tara, no, of course I don't hate you. I could never hate you. I was just surprised that she wasn't freaking out is all. But I mean, this is a good thing. It's kinda nice having someone else know. It really makes it real."

"We are real," Tara responded, tucking a piece of red hair behind the smaller girl's ear, "My feelings for you are the realest thing I've ever known...even if it did take our heads practically being banged together to make me realise."

"I love you," Willow whispered quietly and they stared into one another's eyes for a moment before the turning of the hour on the brunette's alarm clock disturbed them, "I should go home."

Tara nodded her understanding, despite wanting to suggest the redhead stay the night, she knew it wouldn't be good for either of them to fall asleep during class the next day.

"Walk with me to school in the morning?"

"Of course," Willow smiled, standing up, "It's gonna be weird tomorrow, huh? I mean, it's gonna be completely normal for everyone else...I can't believe we've only been, like, 'together' for a day. It feels so weird that there was ever a time we weren't."

Tara stood up and took one of her girlfriend's hands, rubbing her thumb over her knuckles.

"I know, but...I think you're right. About waiting to tell the gang. I mean, they're probably gonna be completely shocked by this."

"Yea. They probably will. Hell, I was shocked by it. A good kinda shocked, though. Like when Buffy actually passed her driving test."

Tara chuckled for a moment before a comfortable silence passed between them, lasting only a couple of seconds before the brunette pulled Willow to her.

"You wanna study together tomorrow after school...you know, maybe a subject the others don't do so we can have some alone time?"

"Uh huh," Willow grinned, "If 'study' stands for smooching...touching...unabashedly making out...doting on each other... you telling me you love me...then yes, I would love to 'study' with you tomorrow afternoon."

"I'll see you in the morning," Tara replied, a bashful smile on her face as she placed butterfly kisses all over the other girl's face, the last one a tender kiss on her lips, "Love you."

"Mmhhmm," Willow moaned softly as she took the brunette's lips a few more times in sweet, gentle kisses, "I love you, too."

They finally, regretfully, fully broke apart and Willow walked over to the window. She was just about to put a leg out to try and get back on the branch she had entered from when Tara pulled her back, rolling her eyes and pushing her towards the door.

"Willow, use the stairs."

"Right. Less risk of limb-breaking that way," Willow replied sheepishly as she opened the door and went through it, "'Night, baby."

Tara watched her go down the stairs, admiring her ass as she went down the stairs and through the front door, until she heard a throat being cleared to her side and turned to see Julia looking at her pointedly. Embarrassed from having been caught checking out her girlfriend, by her mother of all people, who'd already seen enough of her affection with the redhead that night, she tried to regain composure quickly.

"I was just making sure she didn't trip," she said defiantly, "You know how clumsy she is."

"Uh huh," Julia smirked, shaking her head warmly, "Goodnight, Tara."

Tara went back into her room and got into bed for the second time that night, turning off her lamp as she cuddled into one of her pillows, imagining it was Willow.

Yep, she definitely loved being in love.


	8. Chapter 8

"Five cokes and a Shirley Temple."

The waiter went to hand the Shirley Temple to Dawn, who was sitting with the rest of the gang on a stool in the Bronze, a permanent smile plastered on her face. She shook her head at the offering and pointed at Xander, who grabbed it, trying not to look sheepish.

"What?" he asked defensively, popping the maraschino cherry into his mouth, "They're delicious."

"Nice to see you comfortable enough with your sexuality to drink that, Xan-Man," Faith chuckled, "No matter how 'delicious'.

"Yea, well, I'm a man who enjoys delicious grenadine-and-7up based drinks, who also likes women, okay? I like women."

"You're not the only one," Buffy grinned and leaned over to meet Faith's lips.

Willow and Tara shared a brief, knowing look and the redhead gave her girlfriend's knee a quick squeeze under the table. They'd spent the week at school continuing under the pretence of being 'just friends', which was a lot more difficult than either had anticipated, both wanting to hold hands whenever they were with each other and just be generally open about their relationship. They'd agreed to come to the Bronze on the Friday night, as a wind-down from the week at school and Buffy had agreed to let Dawn come along, since her idea _had_, much as it pained her to admit, help her come out to her mom and Faith had even managed to get through a dinner without swearing or making one sexual reference, thus gaining Joyce's approval.

"Oh my god, I love this song," Dawn squealed suddenly as the latest pop hit began playing over the speakers, "I need to find some cute boy to dance with."

"No way!" Buffy replied, pulling away from Faith with an audible pop, "I promised mom I'd look after you, and that means no alcohol, no drugs and certainly no boys."

Dawn started the beginnings of a pout and Tara rolled her eyes, standing up.

"Come on, Dawnie, I'll dance with you."

Dawn jumped up and grabbed Tara's hand, dragging her onto the dancefloor. Willow watched as her girlfriend starting moving to the beat of the song, her hips swaying in what the redhead could only describe as a delicious manner. She felt her body temperature start to rise significantly as she continued to watch and grabbed her coke, downing almost all of it in almost one go. Faith followed her eyeline and smirked.

"You alright there, Red? You're looking a little flushed. Something, or ah, _someone_ catch your eye out there?"

Willow took her eyes off Tara and panicked for a moment that she'd been caught. It only lasted a moment though before she thought that maybe it was the right time to tell everyone, so she wouldn't have to worry about every move she made or every word that came out of her mouth, in case it somehow revealed the true nature of her and Tara's relationship.

The week in school had been spent sneaking kisses behind the lockers and whispered 'I love you's' when no one else had been around. Tara had made it clear she had no problem waiting as long as Willow needed to 'come out', so to speak, but the redhead was figuring now that keeping it secret was doing more harm than good – she was proud of Tara, proud that she was her girlfriend and she was damn ready to announce that to the world. Or to her friends at least. Maybe they could wait awhile before letting her parents know.

"Actually," she started, taking some deep breaths, "Yea, there is. Not just any someone, though, a really special someone. See, it turns out that, I dunno, I've been on autopilot or something for like, years, but I'm not anymore, I'm piloting my own life from now on and I know who I want to be my co-captain. Now, I know you guys will probably be pretty surprised about what I'm about to tell you, but I want you to know that I couldn't be happier and this is what I want and-"

"What did we miss?"

Willow was cut off as Dawn spoke, flopping back down in her seat beside Buffy. Tara sat beside the redhead, her brow glistening from her dancing exertions.

"Willow's telling us something about planes," Xander answered the youngest Summers girl's question, looking confused, "Are you saying you want to become a pilot?"

Tara looked equally confused by the statement, but Willow was still focusing on her girlfriend's face. She was vaguely aware of other people speaking and tried to shift her gaze, unsuccessful in her attempts.

"Um...what was that?"

"Willow!" Buffy said loud enough that the redhead jumped back slightly and looked at her, "What are you trying to say?"

Willow looked between her three friends, Dawn – who was practically her own little sister- and Tara, before scooting closer to her girlfriend and cupping her cheek.

"I'm trying to say this."

Deciding that this was a prime example of when actions speak louder than words, she gently yet firmly crushed her lips against Tara's. Tara took a moment to respond, shocked by the fact that she was being kissed by her girlfriend in public, but the shock dissipated quickly as nothing but the feeling of soft lips on hers filled her being. She turned her head to the side slightly to get closer contact until both of them naturally pulled away, grinning. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment before turning back to the table, regarding their friends.

Xander was staring at them, his mouth hanging open and was shifting uncomfortably in his seat, for reasons neither Willow nor Tara wanted to know why. Faith was smirking, Buffy's eyes were wide but she didn't seem disturbed by the recent development and Dawn looked like she was about to burst from her seat in excitement. Dawn did just that a moment later, jumping up and throwing her arms around them.

"Oh my god, I'm so happy for you guys! Wait," she said, pulling back slightly, "This mean you're together, right? I'm not jumping to conclusions or anything?"

"We're together, Dawn," Willow replied, the grin still evident on her face, "Tara's my girlfriend."

Dawn let out a noise between a squeak and a yelp, embracing her new favourite couple. She'd just known her plan would work, even as the days had continued to go by with apparently no new change in circumstances, she could feel that everything was going to have a happy ending.

"Well, finally," Buffy said, the smirk on her face matching her girlfriend's. It had been an initial shock that her friends had at long last embraced their true feelings, but now she couldn't be happier, "We thought you two would never get it together!"

"Wait..." Willow responded, puzzled, "You guys knew...wait, what?"

"It's kinda obvious you've been crushing on each other for a while now," Faith replied, "Well, long as I've known you anyway, you've always been making goo-goo eyes at each other. B tells me it's been going on a lot longer."

"Since Junior High," Buffy confirmed.

Willow gaped at her circle of friends in disbelief.

"And you didn't think of, I don't know, telling us?"

Dawn, back in her seat at this stage, was about to point out that she had, that's what her whole experiment had been about but Tara interjected before she had a chance.

"I'm glad we figured it out on our own," she said, turning her girlfriend's face towards her.

"But, but!" Willow spluttered in response, "Look at all the time we wasted!"

"Don't worry about that," Tara soothed gently, stroking the redhead's hair, "We have all the time in the world to make up for it."

That answer seemed to please Willow and she leaned in for another kiss. Both Buffy and Dawn put a hand over their hearts and said 'aww' at the same time.

"We're so happy for you," Buffy smiled as they broke apart, "Right, guys?"

"I think Xander's a little too happy," Faith sneered, noticing how the boy had been trying to adjust himself and how quiet he was being, "That right, Xand?"

Xander blushed and cleared his throat to try and speak but it just came out as a squeak. He couldn't help it, he was friends with four very hot females and now they were all making out with each other. He was a man, and men react in...certain ways when situations like that present themselves. However, he saw the happiness in Willow and Tara's faces and the more erotic images that had been flashing through his mind calmed down and he was able to voice his genuine joy.

"I'm a perfectly normal amount of happy," he replied, giving Faith a slight glare, "You guys are made for each other."

"Thanks Xander," Tara smiled, "That means a lot."

"I say we propose a toast," Buffy said, raising her glass, only to realise it was empty. A quick glance around the table revealed most of their glasses were empty, "Put that thought on hold. I will be back momentarily with cold refreshments. Dawn, help me."

Dawn groaned and rolled her eyes, but followed her sister down to the bar as the others began chatting animatedly, a sense of extreme cheerfulness exuberating from their table. She caught up with Buffy just as the she had finished ordering.

"You seemed pretty excited over Willow and Tara," Buffy commented as they waited, "You weren't surprised or freaked out or anything?"

"No," Dawn shook her head, trying to act nonchalant, "I think love is love, no matter who it's with."

"Uh huh. Something tells me you eavesdropped on a conversation or two and already knew they liked each other."

Dawn scoffed and grabbed three of the drinks as they appeared in front of them.

"I wouldn't do that Buffy. And I definitely wouldn't plan and execute a situation where they would be forced to confront their feelings for each other."

With that, Dawn skipped off back to the table, leaving Buffy with her mouth hanging open as she realised the implication of Dawn's words, how her annoying little brat of sister had managed to make up a scheme that not only allowed her to come out to their mother but did the one thing she'd wondered how she could do for years in trying to get her two friends together. She grabbed the remaining three drinks, shaking her head in a mix of disbelief and pride.

_Huh. Maybe she deserves those leather pants after all._


	9. Epilogue

**Six Months Later**

* * *

"I. Love. College," Willow gushed to Buffy as she downed her third mocha of the afternoon, "It's all so busy and there's so many classes and groups and, I just, I love it, I really, really-"

"And that's enough of this for you," Buffy replied, quickly taking the Styrofoam cup away from her friend, "I get it, you like college. All with the big and bustling. How's Tara finding it?"

The two friends were sitting in the Espresso Pump after their first morning of college classes. Willow and Tara had decided early on in the applying-for-colleges process that they were going to stay together no matter what, and when Tara both had been offered a scholarship to the University of Sunnydale, had accepted without question. They both wanted to be close to home as well as each other. Buffy had gotten a place as well and had accepted purely because she hadn't applied to anywhere else.

Xander and Faith had opted out of the college route, deciding to enter the world of work straight away instead. Xander had gotten a job during the summer after an ill-fated roadtrip that lasted less than a week and after much begging from Buffy and a few threats from Faith, had asked his boss about the possibility of getting Faith a job too. The man had initially scoffed at the idea of a girl working on his site, but after seeing her strength and speed, had taken her on straight away.

"Well, she loves the campus," Willow replied to her friend's earlier question, "She said that when we came to see it a few months back. But she stayed with her mother last night because Ms. Maclay was all upset that her daughter was leaving the nest and stuff, so she hasn't seen our dorm yet. At least not with all our stuff in it. So I don't know how she feels about that. And she said she'd call me when she was finished classes. So to answer your question, I don't know how she's finding it, but I'm sure if it was really bad I'd know already."

"You're so lucky you get to share a room with your girlfriend," Buffy sighed, staring into her own coffee, "While I get stuck with crazy Kathy. I swear if she plays that Cher song one more time..."

Willow suppressed a giggle and shook her head.

"It's only been one night, Buff. You need to give yourselves a chance to get to know each other first."

"Yea, one night," Buffy scoffed, "One night where she grabbed my cell – while I was on it – and hung up my phone call with Faith. When I called her back and told her what had happened, she threatened to come down and pull Kathy's toenails off one by one. I managed to convince her not to, but I don't know how long I can keep up my resolve not to just let her."

"Can't you just stay at Faith's apartment a few nights of the week to give yourself a break?" Willow suggested, "It's not like it's that far from campus."

Buffy contemplated the idea and got a small smile on her face. She was about to say something when the redhead's phone beeped, indicating an incoming text message. Willow opened it, her eyes going wide and a blush creeping up her cheeks as she read it.

Hey honey...Just got home, I love how you've set it up. But you know, we haven't christened the bed yet...and I'm lying on it...naked

"Oh...boy," she said, scanning the message one more time as she jumped up, "Um, I gotta go Buffy, emergency, ah, plumbing situation."

"Plumbing?" Buffy asked, perplexed, "Where?"

"In our dorm," Willow replied quickly, gathering her things, "Everything's getting wet. Really fast."

The redhead scarpered off without another word, leaving Buffy confused and a little bit annoyed, but Willow reckoned she'd buy her mochas for the rest of the week and let her vent about Kathy as much as she wanted to make up for lying to her and leaving in such a rush. Then again, she figured it wasn't really a lie.

_Things are definitely getting wet and it's definitely happening fast._

Thinking that, she quickened her pace until she was practically sprinting and got to her dorm in record time. Assuming the door would be open since Tara was in there anyway she rushed straight in and had one of her hands undoing her belt buckle and button of her jeans before the door had even closed behind her. The loosened garment fell to her ankles just as the redhead stopped short in the room.

"I'm here," she said, stating the obvious as she took in the sight of Tara, sitting on a chair by one of the desks, fully clothed, "And you're not naked."

"Sorry," Tara replied, her gaze automatically going to the smaller girl's toned legs, "I, um, just wanted you back here as quick as possible. I wanted to introduce you to someone."

"There's someone else here?" Willow squeaked, scrambling to get her jeans back up and looking around the room self-consciously.

Tara frowned for a moment as Willow's legs were covered up again but it turned into a smile as she heard a small sound that reminded her why she'd tried to her girlfriend back to their dorm so quickly. She swivelled around in her chair and picked something up before turning back around and holding up the paw and of the black and white kitten that was in her arms, making it wave. Willow's face lit up and she stepped over, picking up the little feline and cuddling her.

"Oh my god, Tara, she's so cute. Is she really yours?"

"I thought she could be ours?" Tara asked, a little nervous, "Unless that's too much. I mean, we're already sharing a dorm and-"

"Now we're mommies to the most adorable little kitty in the world," Willow cooed, rubbing the cat behind her ears, "Does she have a name?"

Tara breathed a sigh of relief and pulled Willow onto her lap as the redhead as she continued playing with their new addition.

"We have to give her one. Any ideas?"

Just then the kitten jumped out of Willow's hands and onto the desk, going straight over to the newspaper that was opened there. She appeared to be studying it intently for a moment before pawing at a large advertisement that took up half the page.

"Fortune's told and palms read by the mistress of the divine, Ms. Fantastico," Tara read aloud, "You trying to tell us something, kitty?"

"What, that she wants her fortune told by some fake with a crystal ball?"

"No," Tara replied, rolling her eyes and pointing at the words, "The name. How about it? Ms. Kitty Fantastico."

"Hey, I like it," Willow grinned, scooping the kitten back up, "Is that your name, Ms. Kitty Fantastico? Is it?"

The black and white ball of fur let out a noise of approval before jumping away once again and finding a spot on the other side of the room that the sun was shining in on and settling there for a nap. Willow giggled and turned her head to lock eyes with the brunette.

"I can't believe you got us a kitty. Wait, are we allowed pets in the dorms?"

"Um, well, no," Tara frowned for a moment, "But she can be a sneaky cat."

"Ooh, I like it. It's been such a good day. How much fun is college?"

Tara grinned and placed a hand on Willow's waist.

"Not nearly as fun as having our own private dorm room will be. I love what you've done with the place. It really feels like ours now, instead of the blank empty dorm we saw a couple of days ago. I especially like the fairy lights."

Willow smiled bashfully. She and Tara had moved all their things into the room a couple of days previous, but hadn't unpacked. The plan was to do it the night before but when Tara was forced to stay with her crying mother for just one more night, Willow had taken it upon herself to do it all herself and have everything ready for when Tara officially moved it. The fairy lights had been a last-minute addition she'd bought when she noticed the lighting in the dorm wasn't the greatest. They stretched across the desk they were currently sitting at. Tara hadn't seen them turned on at night yet, but Willow had tested them the night before and they gave the whole room a soft, romantic feel.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here for the first night," Tara continued, using her other hand to trace circles on the back on her girlfriend's neck.

"It's okay," Willow replied, getting a shiver up her spine from the feelings of the brunette's hands on her, "I stayed up all night getting this place set up, so technically, tonight will be our first night together anyway...you know, sleeping in our bed."

"You stayed up all night and had classes all day?" Tara asked in disbelief, "How have you not crashed?"

Willow started running her hand up and down the taller girl's arm.

"I'm consumed enough caffeine to keep a baby elephant awake for a week. Kinda makes for a lot of excess energy."

"Oh really?" Tara asked, her grin getting wider, "Any ideas on how to burn that energy?"

"I had a few," Willow smirked, "But they kinda flew out the window when I came home and my girlfriend wasn't naked and waiting for me like she said."

"Sorry about that...but I wasn't completely lying..."

Willow was about to protest that Tara was very much clothed when the brunette moved so that her lips were at the redhead's ear and she spoke in a low, aroused tone.

"I'm not wearing any underwear."

Willow let out a soft gasp and her hand stilled momentarily before reaching up to cup her girlfriend's cheek and crushing their lips together passionately, pushing her tongue past the other girl's teeth and into her mouth straight away. Tara moaned into the kiss and held the redhead securely on her lap as their tongues clashed, her hands pushing past the smaller girl's t-shirt to caress the soft skin of her stomach.

She felt Willow's hand come down to cup her breast through her blouse and arched into the touch for a moment before a thought crossed her mind and she quickly manoeuvred herself out of the embrace and went over to the door. Willow, completely dumbfounded by the sudden lack of any contact, stared at the brunette for a moment before snapping to attention.

"What...Why...What?!"

"I'm just locking the door," Tara replied breathlessly as she did just that.

They'd been almost caught one too many times that it had become habit to do so, regardless of whether they were in their own place now or not. Willow watched her rotate the little key in the lock and jumped up, quickly turning the brunette and slamming her back against the door, latching her lips onto her neck.

"Oh god," Tara groaned as the redhead nipped at the spot just below her ear that always drove her wild, "Oh Willow..."

Willow slipped a hand under the knee-high skirt her lover was wearing, groaning herself when she felt the bare skin of the taller girl's thighs and butt, confirming that she wasn't wearing any underwear and caressed the flesh for a few moments before letting two fingers glide into an abundant amount of wetness.

Tara bucked her hips as the fingers started circling her clit, slowly and tantalisingly and held her girlfriend's head to her neck as she felt her pulsepoint start to be sucked.

"Mhmm, Willow. That feels good..."

Willow sucked and nipped at the brunette's pulsepoint until she was confident it would leave a mark, then moved her lips back to Tara's and kissed her firmly, never ceasing her light strokes between her legs.

"I wanna taste you," she murmured into the kiss after a couple of minutes, "You want that?"

Tara nodded silently, forming words beyond her abilities as she shut her eyes tight. Willow, however, wanted to hear it.

"Say it, baby. Tell me you want it."

Tara exhaled slowly in an attempt to exert some control and opened her eyes, feeling herself go even weaker in the knees when she saw the darkened, lust-filled orbs of her lover staring back at her.

"Please taste me, Willow, please. I need you."

Willow grinned and quickly dropped to her knees, removing her fingers from the brunette's clit in the process. Tara whimpered at the loss of contact but dutifully stepped out of her skirt as she felt the fabric fall down her legs, slipping off her shoes and braced herself as her leg was raised and thrown over her girlfriend's shoulder.

Willow ran one hand along the outer thigh of the leg over her shoulder as she used the other one to hold onto the taller girl's hip, holding her in place. She nuzzled into brunette curls for a brief moment before extending her tongue and parting her lover's folds, licking the length of her in one long, languid stroke.

"Oh yes," Tara hissed, stabilising herself by putting a hand on the back of the smaller girl's head, pushing her more into herself in the process, "Oh god..."

Willow explored the wet heat for a minute, using light, teasing strokes before latching onto her girlfriend's clit and sucking.

"So good..."

Tara let out a throaty moan as the redhead continued her ministrations, alternating between hard and soft sucking motions that were sending the brunette into a frenzy. It didn't take long for her to start to teeter on the edge and used her spare hand to grip the doorknob as she felt herself going higher and higher. Willow sensed how close her girlfriend was and started working her jaw as fast as she could, giving herself a virtual pat on the back when she heard a hitched breath from above and felt Tara's legs begin to shake.

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Tara gripped the doorknob as tight as she could as the orgasm broke and washed over her, her knuckles going white in the process. She was absently aware of being brought down from her high, before her leg was gently put back down on the floor and she was being kissed with an unreserved tenderness, Willow's hands softly cupping her butt cheeks to keep her upright.

"That was..." Tara started, still catching her breath, a serene smile on her face, "Amazing."

Willow said nothing, instead opting to put her mouth to better use by placing small, sweet kisses on the brunette's lips as Tara regained full use of her limbs.

"But we still have a problem..."

"No problems here," Willow replied, grinning into the kiss, "None at all."

Tara deepened their kiss and gripped the redhead's hips, before pushing them both back until they fell onto the bed.

"We still haven't christened the bed."

"Let's get right on that," Willow replied, moving so that she was straddling the brunette, before a thought crossed her mind, "You need a rest? We can just cuddle for a while."

Tara responded by whipping Willow's t-shirt over her head and swiftly switching their positions.

"I am never too tired," she grinned, cupping the redhead's breasts through her bra, "To make love with you."

Willow arched into the touch and let out a quiet moan as Tara brushed her thumb over her covered nipple, feeling it harden immediately. She kicked her shoes off and began unbuttoning the brunette's blouse as one of Tara's hands went to her belt and unfastened it. Barely a minute later, they had both managed to divest the other of their clothing and were lying side by side, legs tangled together, locked at the mouth.

"I love you."

They both whispered the phrase over and over as they kissed for several minutes, savouring the simple intimacy between them. After a while, both girl's hands began to roam, squeezing and fondling whatever flesh they came in contact with until the need for more became too much and Willow rolled her girlfriend onto her back, kissing down her chest. She circled kisses around her lover's breasts, avoiding the taut buds protruding from them for a moment before they became too tempting and her mouth latched onto one of Tara's nipples.

"Oh...oh, mmhh, that's...mmhhm..."

Tara continued moaning and groaning as Willow switched sides, until suddenly the redhead found herself on her back, getting the same attention she had just given. She gasped as the brunette engulfed her entire breast and slowly suckled the flesh until it was just the nipple in her mouth, which she playfully bit down on as her hand went to pinch her other one.

"Oh Tara...oh god, baby..."

Tara relished playing with her lover's breasts for a few minutes as Willow's moans got more and more guttural until she was pulled up into a steamy kiss and a finger was sliding inside her, making her muscles clench deliciously around it. She brought her own hand down and rubbed over the smaller girl's clit for a moment before plunging two of her fingers inside her girlfriend. Willow grunted and moved her lips down to the brunette's neck, deciding to try for a hickey on either side of Tara's neck and latched onto her pulsepoint.

"Ohhh...yea...more, Willow..."

Willow slipped a second finger inside, quickly followed by a third and bit down lightly on the taller girl's flesh at the feel of the tightness surrounding her. She quickly ran her tongue over the skin to soothe it before reverting back to sucking on the pulsepoint, until she felt Tara curl her fingers and hit her sweet spot inside and she threw her head back, grinding her hips into the other girl's hand as fast as she could. Tara felt the urgency in her lover's movement and brought her thumb up to the redhead's clit, placing a firm pressure on it, like she knew her girlfriend liked, increasing the pace of her own hips so she was on the edge as well, wanting to come together.

"So close, Tara..."

"Me too, Will...oh right there...oh right..."

Willow brought her lips back to Tara's and used her spare hand to cup the back of her neck as she felt contractions in her own center mirror the ones around her fingers as they both crashed at the same time, screams swallowed by each other before they even left their mouths. Their kiss slowed in intensity as their bodies recovered until their lips were simply resting together, both breathing hard. Willow was the first to remove her fingers, slowly extracting them and bringing them up to her mouth. She licked them clean, watching as Tara did the same and getting a shiver down her spine at the sheer eroticism of it, then adjusted their positions so the brunette's head was resting under their chin, neither feeling to say anything for the moment, just enjoying the closeness.

"What're you thinking about?" Tara asked after a few minutes, internally cringing at the cheesiness of the question.

Willow, however, didn't seem to mind.

"You," she answered simply, "Trying to think of the right words to describe you."

"Hmm..." Tara grinned, entwining their fingers, "Student? Girlfriend? Lover?"

"They all work," Willow mused, a grin breaking out on her face too as Ms. Kitty Fantastico jumped up on the bed and sat beside her.

She pulled the cat between their bodies and watched as it settled itself comfortably, her gaze shifting back and forth between the sleeping feline and the shining form of her girlfriend. She patted the kitten down as she tilted Tara's head up and gave her a sweet kiss.

"There's only word that describes all that you are to me though, baby. Family."

* * *

**The End**


End file.
